10/03/2015

Headline Oct 04, 2015/ ''' REALIZE -3D PRINTING- JOBS '''

''' REALIZE -3D PRINTING- JOBS '''

IN PAKISTAN -the first historic host of !WOW! -the World Students Society, I never did find, anybody at any level, segment or niche, who has seen a 3D printer. Leave alone worked on one.

The same scene would probably hold true for the whole of the developing world. But then India has them by the scores, and their universities seem well rehearsed on the technology and experimentation.

A recent report on the technology by CM Research, concluded that manufacturers who do not adopt to 3D printing ''may find themselves at a cost disadvantage faster that they think.''

Far from spelling the end of traditional factories, it is being adopted by them and incorporated into existing processes to provide the best of both the worlds. 3D-printed tools, jigs, moulds and dies allow production lines to be set up more quickly.

EVER SINCE 3D printing -the awesome ability to construct solid objects by building them up, -a layer at a time- in plastic or metal hit public consciousness a couple of years ago, comment has veered towards two extremes.

Fans, often in America, insist it will have a dramatic effect, undermining the economics of mass production and repatriating jobs to the West.

According to the Harvard Business Review, ''China will have to give up on being the mass-manufacturing powerhouse of world.''

Critics denounce it as overblown hype -''a gimmick'' according to Terry, the boss of Foxconn, a manufacturing giant in China: He says he will start spelling his name backwards if he is proved wrong.

Cheap 3D printers for consumers are selling fast, but account for just 5% of the market. Many printers are still used for models and prototypes.

But in 2012 more than 25% of the items emerging from 3D printers were finished parts, up from 4% in 2003, according to Wohlers Associates, a consultancy.

It predicts that the industry, worth $2.2 billion in 2012, has since grown by an average of over 28% every year. Align Technology, which makes transparent dental braces, printed 17m of them in 2012.

And America's space agency, NASA, recently tested a rocket engine with a 3D-printed fuel injector. Printing meant that it could be made with just two parts instead of 115.

What of the idea that 3D printing is bad news for Chinese manufacturers? Some manufacturing is indeed being ''reshored'' to be closer to Western consumers.

But when it comes to 3D printing, Chinese companies are well placed to embrace the new technology as anyone.

Some of the world's largest 3D printers can be found in China, including a 12-meter long machine used to print titanium wing parts and fuselage frames for short-haul airliners.

Chinese engineers have also pioneered the 3D printing of moulds in foundry sand, as a faster and more accurate way to cast metal. China's astronauts sit in 3D printed seats shaped to fit their bodies.

Officials regard 3D printing as a way to upgrade China's manufacturing base as rising labour cost erode its advantage.

The lesson for students and firms in all this? 3D printing can make all sorts of manufacturing even cheaper and more efficient and is likely to lead the job market in years ahead.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of technology, innovation, and inventing, the world over. See Ya all on !WOW! -the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless: